THINGS THAT GO BLIP IN THE NIGHT

WITHOUT DISTURBING YOU

Standby power
Now the time comes to concentrate on it

Prepared By Mentor
Gurpinder Singh Dhindsa Dr.S P Singh
Professor & Head
 What is standby power?
Standby power is electricity
used by appliances while
they are switched off or not
performing their primary
function. These products
draw power 24 hours a day,
often without the knowledge
of the consumer.
 Standby mode?

Many people are surprised to learn that they cannot stop

their appliances from using electricity without pulling
the plug from the socket or switching the power off at
the wall. Today, televisions, video-cassette recorders
(VCRs), mobile telephone chargers, computers, fax
machines and many other appliances consume
electricity 24 hours a day. These appliances are said to
be in “standby mode” when they are not being used or
are not performing their primary function.
Standby power is also known as

Vampire power

Vampire draw

Phantom load

Leaking electricity
 What is the Scope of this study?

The scope of this study is broadly focuses on energy

conservation through standby wastages which are
mostly neglected due to lack of awareness and due to
very little consumption per appliance.
As there is almost no studies carried out about
standby power losses in developing countries like
India. Developing countries have less electric
appliance, but the appliances that are available are
most of the time not the state-of-the-art technology
and thus their standby power losses can be assumed
to be higher for the individual appliances
 Objective of Study

Objective of the Study is to determine the

current status of stand-by losses in India
due to increased use of electronic
appliances in average homes which are
wasting the power as standby consumption
and of course to find out the solutions/
suggestions to lower them.
 Problem
Almost in every house, more than 20
electrical appliances are used in routine
life which includes approximate 15
appliances, which are always plugged in
and always in ready to use condition and
we can say that appliances are
consuming power in standby mode.

Now standby losses are not too

small to be neglected.
 Identifying devices

Almost any product with an external power supply, remote

control, continuous display (including an LED), or charges
batteries will draw power continuously. Sometimes there is no
obvious sign of continuous power consumption and you need a
meter to be certain.An appliance multi meter (which can be able
to measure current in mille ampere)can be used to find out how
much energy is used by standby power.Standby power
consumption can many times be indicated qualitatively, if after a
several hours of non-operation a device is still warm to touch
(usually surface near to the power plug). Such elevated surface
temperature will depend on the standby power consumption.
 Devices and functions that can
consume standby power
 Power supplies, transformers
 VCRs, DVD players and some audio systems.
TVs and Set-top boxes.
Microwave ovens.
Inverters.
Computers, digital monitors and printers.
Cell phone chargers.
Air conditioning systems with remote control.
Devices with a stand-by light or clock.
Power adapters (such as wall warts),
Some home video game consoles.
Common power switch designs
 Methodology
The standby power consumption of
several appliances is measured and
the average consumption is find out
for each appliances in the
household.The average consumption
per household multiplied by the
number of households in a country
gives the total standby power
consumption for one country.
To conduct this study, 20 appliances
are included to measure their
current in different conditions with
multi meter. (DT9205A)
 Standby power summary table
Product Mode Average power W
Air conditioner window 1.5 T Standby 0.08

Phone Charger On ,but phone fully charged 2.88

On, phone is charging 3.46

On, phone is not connected 0.23

Computer display CRT 17” Off 3.16

On 57.38

Computer display LCD Off 2.85

On 23.94

Sleep mode 3.76

Computer UPS Off 6.95

On 20.52

Computer CPU Off 5.75

On 65.55

Computer notebook On fully charged 31.92

On charging 47.42
 Standby power summary table
Product Mode Average power W
Modem ADSL Off 0.46
On 2.53
Phone cordless Off 2.81
Taking 2.93
. Printer inkjet On, no printing 49.68
On, printing 49.8
Printer laser On, no printing 2.52
On, printing 412.2
Scanner On, no scanning 0.78
On, scanning 7.06
Speakers with woofer On with no sound 8.05
On with full volume 42.55
DVD player On charging 7.18
On fully charged 0.
Television 21”CRT On 54.05
Off by remote 13.57
 Standby power summary table
Product Mode Average power W
Photo camera On charging 3.26
Fully charged 1.93
Movie camera On charging 3.11

Fully charged 0.23

Microwave ovens Standby mode 0.79

Mosquito Destroyer On 4.88

Inverter 500VA No charging 80

 Quantify of problem
• Now problem is identified, That home appliances
are continuously eating valuable power without
performing there primary function.
• We have to now quantify the problem, that how
major it is in current situactions? And how it is
growing?
• For that I have collected the data of 415 homes in
Punjab.
 Data analysis table
Income groups Income Income .51- Income Income Income
0.2-.50 1.0 Lakh 1.1-2.0 2.1-5.0 above 5.0
lakh lakh lakh Lakh
Total no of families 30 83 142 117 43

No. of Members in Family: 147 441 729 574 244

Annual Income: 12.53 74.42 237.7 395.26 469.7

Televisions @ your home 31 95 178 168 83
% of TVs with Families 103.33 114.46 125.35 143.59 193.02
Switched off by Remote 15 51 87 95 58
Switched off By Switch 16 44 91 73 25
Air Conditioners @ your 1 9 26 55 51
home
% of ACs with Families 3.33 10.84 18.31 47.01 118.60
Switched of by Remote 0 4 16 31 33
Switched off By Switch 1 5 10 24 18
Inverters @ your home 10 43 87 74 43
% of Inverters with 33.33 51.81 61.27 63.25 100.00
Families
Always switch on: 10 43 87 74 43
VCD/DVD Players @ your 8 43 75 88 43
home
% of VCD/DVDs with 26.67 51.81 52.82 75.21 100.00
Families
Always switch on: 0 5 3 4 8
On only when required: 8 38 71 84 36
 Data analysis table (continue)
Income groups Income Income . Income Income Income
0-.50 51-1.0 1.0-2.0 2.0-5.0 above 5.0
lakh Lakh lakh lakh Lakh
VCR/Music Systems @ 3 14 27 38 17
your home
% of VCS/Music system 10 16.88 19.01 32.47 39.53
with Families
Always switch on: 0 0 0 4 1
On only when required: 3 14 27 34 16
Microwave Ovens @ your 1 10 20 27 19
home
% of Microwave Ovens 3.33 12.05 14.08 23.08 44.19
with Families
Always switch on: 0 0 0 1 0
On only when required: 1 10 20 26 19
Personal Computers @ 2 30 65 70 32
your home
% of Personal Computers 6.67 36.14 45.77 59.83 74.42
with Families
Always switch on: 0 0 1 5 2
On only when required: 2 30 64 65 30
Laptops @ your home 1 6 29 43 32
% of Laptops with 3.33 7.23 20.42 36.75 74.42
Families
Always switch on: 0 0 1 3 2
On only when required: 1 6 28 40 29
Printers @ your home 0 4 19 14 9
% of Printers with 0 4.82 13.38 11.97 20.93
Families
Always switch on: 0 0 1 0 0
Always On When 0 2 13 7 7
 Data analysis table (continue)
Income groups Income Income . Income Income Income
0-.50 51-1.0 1.0-2.0 2.0-5.0 above 5.0
lakh Lakh lakh lakh Lakh
Scanners @ your home 0 0 7 5 2
% of Scanners with 0 0 4.93 4.27 4.65
Families
Always switch on: 0 0 0 0 0
Always On When 0 0 6 0 1
Computer on:
On only when 0 0 1 5 1
required:
Speakers @ your home 2 29 65 74 39
% of Speakers with 6.67 34.94 45.77 63.25 90.70
Families
Always switch on: 0 0 2 4 4
Always On When 2 22 48 53 25
Computer on:
On only when 0 6 16 17 10
required:
Mosquito Destroyer @ 31 76 140 134 54
your home
% of Mosquito 103.33 91.57 98.59 114.53 125.58
Destroyers with
Families
Always switch on: 3 8 21 16 3
On only when 28 68 119 118 51
Family Distribution As Per Annual
Income
Percentage of TVs with Families
Income
 Percentage
ACs with Families Income

100% families above 5.0 lakh income have ACs

 Percentage
of Inverters with Families

Above 5.0 lack income group have 100% inverters and they have also
Generators as backup.
Percentage of VCD/DVDs with
Families
Percentage of VCR/Music system with
Families
 Percentage of Microwave Ovens with
Families

Use of microwave ovens is very less in homes .These are mostly used on
Shops and they remain always on standby mode.
Percentage of Personal Computers
with Families
Percentage of Printers with Families
Percentage of Speakers with Families
Percentage of Laptops with Families
Percentage of Mosquito Destroyers
with Families
Percentage of Mobile Chargers with
Families
 Analysis
• From the graphs it is shown that as the income is
growing, no of gadgets are growing in homes. As
the economy is growing, per capita income is
also growing which results increase in the
population of gadgets in future.
• As the no. of gadgets are increasing , standby
power is also increasing.
• Population of TVs and Cell phones are very high
as compared to others.
From Graph it is shown that 0.2-0.5 lakh income group have 100% TVs
‘Cell phones and Mosquito destroyers
In this income group every family have 2 cell phones. And every
Two families have one inverter.
In income group of 5.0 lakh every family have 4 cell phones.
All gadgets have good volume except printers and scanners.
As the Income is Increasing Standby power also increases
Above graph shows that TVs mostly remain on standby mode
during their life cycle.
In Every home inverter always plugged on whether
it is charging the battery or not.
Almost 14% if India’s population equal no. of cell phone chargers
remain on all the time.
 power consumed by Television on
standby mode :
Now for calculations India’s total population
considered 100 crore
It is shown in the graph that only 26% of India’s
population, no of televisions are running in India. And
14.33% of population remains on stand by mode.
Power consumption by one television on standby
mode= 13.57W (Calculated)
Therefore power consumption by televisions on stand
by mode = 1944 MW
 Power consumed by cell phone
charger on standby mode
From the study it is shown that only13.72% of India’s
population cell phone charges remain on without
charging the cell phone.
It is calculated that one cell phone charger consumes 0.23
watt when it is on and cell phone is not connected or it is
fully charged.
Therefore power consumption by cell phone charger =
31.55MW
 Power consumed by inverters on
stabdby mode.
Study shows that 12.04% of India’s population, inverters are running
in India. And all are always in on position.
It is assumed that only 30% time they remain in standby mode.( means
at that time they are not charging the battery )
Power consumption by one inverter on standby mode = 80W
Power consumed by total no of inverters 2889.6MW
•
•
Equipment wise Stand by power
consumed in India
S. No. Equipmenton StandbyPower
standby mode consumed
1. Televisions 1944 MW

2. Cellphone 31.55MW
charger
3. Inverters 2889.6MW
(Domestic power
supply system)
Total 4865.15 MW

The installed power generation capacity of India = 147,000 MW

Percentage standby consumption of above three appliances = 4.0%
 Operation practice
• Switch off the TV by remote is just comfort level
(means only when we switch off the TV by
remote at night and it continuously eating
power all night approx.8-10 hrs.)
• Putting the cell phone charges on with out
charging the cell phone is just negligence or lack
of awareness As we can off the switch when we
remove the cell phone from charger.
 Solution
• With out disturbing the comfort level we can reduce the standby power by
improving the technology and there should be such type of appliances in
the market that consumes less standby power.
• I have tried a IR (remote control) switch which consumes 3.5watt on
standby mode.
• If we considered that all the existing TVs in India operated by this switch
then saving comes 1433MW.
• The switch has three major parts Transformer, IR signal Circuit, and relay
• Maximum power consumption of 3.5 watt is consumed by the
transformer. Which can be reduced further by using the modfets.
 Limitations of this study

This study is statistically too small to draw any

final conclusions of standby power consumptions,
but it gives an indication of the potential to
reduce standby power losses. The current drawn
by appliances is very small that is in mille
ampere, so it is difficult to measure accurately
and to celebrate meter properly.
The data is totally assumed for calculations
because data collection is very difficult at country
level.
 Conclusion
This study revels that Standby power is probably
growing.The number of new appliances that
continuously draw power is increasing rapidly,
especially in the developing countries.We suspect
that standby continues to increase. So, it could not
be neglected.Calculations shows that we are
generating 4850MW (3.5% of total India’s
production) only for standby power of three
appliances.
 Probable Solutions

General Awareness
One Watt Initiative
• The One Watt Initiative is an energy proposal by the International Energy
Agency (IEA) to reduce standby power-use in all appliances to just one watt.
• The 1-watt plan is an agreement across the world to reduce the standby power
losses. It is a voluntary agreement. The proposal is coming from the
International Energy Agency and contains:
• In all participating countries, it is forbidden by 2010 to produce appliances
with standby losses below 1 watt.
• In all participating countries are the same definitions valid for the standby
losses.
• All participating countries maintain the same procedure for the measurement
of the appliance.
 General Awareness:
The government can take steps to decrease the losses. One
step is the introduction of standards for standby powers.

A small decrease in convenience or comfort can also be

tolerated by the comnsumers

When shopping, search for low standby products. (Asking a

salesperson will probably be a waste of time.) ENERGY
STAR products have lower standby

Buy a low-cost multi-meter, measure the devices in your

home and take targeted action. You will certainly be surprised
at what you discover and this exercise might even pay back
the cost of the meter in savings. Limited research suggests that
an informed and aggressive approach can reduce standby use
by about 30%.
 Improved Technologies
Use a switchable power strip for clusters of computer or video
products. That way you can switch everything to zero with one action.
Switching devices on or off can be automated. Timers can be used to
turn off standby power to devices that are unused on a regular schedule.
Switches can turn the power off when the connected device goes into
standby
Standby controllers are placed in between the socket and the appliance
plug. The controller is based on a comparator. If the consumption
decreases below a specific value, the appliance is switched off after a
specific time.
Technical solutions to the problem of standby power exist in the form of
a new generation of power transformers that use only 100 milliwatts
in standby mode and thus can reduce standby consumption by up to
90%.
Another alternative is to consider buying energy saving devices or
devices that offer a real off switch. Identifying a real off switch can be
difficult though, as even devices with a hardware off switch, e.g. TVs,
often still do have standby consumption if not taken fully off energy
supply.
NOW TIME COMES TO DISTURB
THE THINGS ON STANDBY
MODE

THANK YOU